Product Description
In this extraordinary new book, Emeril Lagasse continues his lifelong commitment to using fresh, local ingredients in his restaurants and home kitchen. He has spent the past thirty years building close relationships with farmers, fishermen, and ranchers. Farm to Fork is his guide to help you explore the great local bounty through fifteen flavorful chapters—sweet summer in “The Three Sisters: Corn, Beans, and Squash,” juicy “Berries, Figs, and Melons,” sublime naturally raised meats in “Out on the Range,” fresh catch in “Fresh Off the Dock,” and home canning tips from “Home Economics: Preserving the Harvest.”

Fill your basket with the ripest ingredients from every season at the markets (or your backyard garden) and dig into delicious recipes such as Sweet Potato Ravioli with Sage Brown Butter, Cheesy Creole Tomato Pie, Honey-Brined Pork Chops with Nectarine Chutney, Watermelon Rind Crisp Sweet Pickles, and Rhubarb Strawberry Crisp. Even learn how to make your own cheese and pasta at home. Emeril shares his love for fresh from-the-fields foods—and the heritage of the artisans who bring them to the table.

I am honored  to review a cookbook by the master himself Mr. Emeril Lagasse. I will be honest, hopefully, without offending the Cooking Gods.  So, lets begin with this new cookbook “Farm to Fork” by the man who put The Food Network in our living rooms at 8:00 p.m. each night while humorously encouraging us to cook or bake anything we want with a Bam!  Here goes:

First off, if nothing else, the pictures make me wish I had started that vegetable garden I designed three years ago.  Wow!  If you don’t or can’t have a garden then the next best and logical thing is to buy fresh from your local farm markets or grocer.  Everybody knows that fresh is so muc h better for you than canned or processed, and Emeril will walk you though some superb and delicious recipes so you can use those spring peas, arugla, and fennel.  Of course, as with any cookbook, there are a few recipes that you may never attempt as ordering  in a restaurant would be less work.  However, if you wish to try your hand at Spicy Tomato Jam, Smoked Trout Souffle, or Sweet Potato Ravioli with Sage Brown Butter then have at it.

Divided into several chapters from The Herb Garden to Out on the Range and even including a Home Economics chapter regarding preserving the harvest, this book has it all.  There is even a chapter on Winter fruits that will perk up your taste buds while awaiting those first asparagus sightings in the Spring.  The “Three Sisters – Corn, Beans, and Squash is a must chapter for the whole family.

Please check this book out for yourself and loved ones and support your local farmers.  I’m headed to the kitchen now to try my hand at the Artichokes All Romana, wish me luck!

On a scale from 1-5, I give this book a 4.